Method, apparatus and system for realizing dynamic scheduling for a cinema and controlling playing of a movie

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to a method, apparatus, and system for realizing dynamic scheduling for a cinema and controlling playing of a movie. In particular, embodiments of the present invention relate to dynamic scheduling of content presentation in a cinema by collecting user preferences of a plurality of users, wherein the user preference specifies at least a movie that a user desires to watch, a time for watching the movie, a cinema for watching the movie, and a number of people watching the movie; generating, based on the collected user preferences, a respective dynamic schedule for at least one cinema of a plurality of cinemas according to one of a plurality of scheduling schemes; and transmitting the generated respective dynamic schedule to at least one second electronic apparatus corresponding to the at least one cinema.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority and is acontinuation-in-part to U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No.15/953,383, filed on Apr. 13, 2018, and this application claims priorityunder 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Chinese patent application CN 201910778699.7,filed Aug. 22, 2019, the contents of which are incorporated by referenceherein in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to movie scheduling and playing for acinema, and in particular, to a method, apparatus, and computer readablemedium for realizing dynamic scheduling for a cinema, to a method,apparatus, and computer readable medium for controlling playing of amovie according to a dynamic schedule, and to a cinema system.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Traditionally, cinemas play movies according to schedules that arepredetermined manually. For example, a cinema scheduling team arrangesand fixes a movie schedule several days before movies being played, andinputs the fixed schedule data into a cinema management system.Subsequently, a cinema play system can receive the fixed schedule datafrom the cinema management system, and play movies according to thefixed schedule data. In addition, traditionally, each of cinemasarranges its respective schedule independently and plays moviesaccordingly.

However, according to this traditional mode, the movie-goer'spreferences (e.g. movie, date and time for watching, and cinema, etc.)are not taken into account when arranging the movie schedule, especiallybecause each of cinemas arranges its respective schedule independently,it is difficult to take the movie-goer's preference regarding cinemainto account during the scheduling. Even if it is tried to take intoaccount such a preference, scheduling as per the traditional mode willrequire huge amount of manual work.

Therefore, there is a need for a solution that enables generatingrespective dynamic schedules for multiple cinemas flexibly andautomatically based on movie-goer's preferences, and each of the cinemascontrolling playing movies according to its dynamic schedule.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure provides a solution that enables generatingrespective dynamic schedules for multiple cinemas flexibly andautomatically based on movie-goer's preferences, and each of the cinemascontrolling playing a movie according to its dynamic schedule.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a method for realizingdynamic scheduling for a cinema is provided, the method being performedby a first electronic apparatus, characterized in that, the methodcomprises: collecting user preferences of a plurality of users, whereinthe user preference specifies at least a movie that a user desires towatch, a time for watching the movie, a cinema for watching the movie,and a number of people watching the movie; generating, based on thecollected user preferences, a respective dynamic schedule for at leastone cinema of a plurality of cinemas according to one of a plurality ofscheduling schemes; and transmitting the generated respective dynamicschedule to at least one second electronic apparatus corresponding tothe at least one cinema.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, an electronicapparatus for realizing dynamic scheduling for a cinema is provided, theelectronic apparatus comprises a memory having computer executableinstructions stored thereon and a processor, the computer executableinstructions, when executed by the processor, causing the apparatus toperform the method for realizing dynamic scheduling for a cinema asdescribed above.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a method forcontrolling playing a movie according to a dynamic schedule is provided,the method being performed by a second electronic apparatus,characterized in that, the method comprises: receiving a dynamicschedule from a first electronic apparatus; and controlling playing themovie based on the dynamic schedule, wherein, the dynamic schedule isgenerated based on a plurality of user preferences according to one of aplurality of scheduling schemes, wherein the user preference specifiesat least a movie that the user desires to watch, a time for watching themovie, a cinema for watching the movie, and the number of peoplewatching the movie.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, an electronicapparatus for controlling playing a movie according to a dynamicschedule is provided, the electronic apparatus comprises a memory havingcomputer executable instructions stored thereon and a processor, thecomputer executable instructions, when executed by the processor,causing the apparatus to perform the method for controlling playing amovie according to a dynamic schedule as described above.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a computer readablemedium having computer executable instructions stored thereon isprovided, the computer executable instructions, when executed by aprocessor, cause the processor to perform the method for realizingdynamic scheduling for a cinema or the method for controlling playing amovie according to the dynamic schedule as described above.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a cinema system isprovided, the cinema system comprises an electronic apparatus forrealizing dynamic scheduling for a cinema as described above and one ormore electronic apparatus for controlling playing a movie according to adynamic schedule as described above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure, andare used in conjunction with the description to explain the principlesof the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a cinema system in accordance with thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a structural configuration of anelectronic apparatus for realizing dynamic scheduling for a cinema,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a schematic operational flow of an electronicapparatus for realizing dynamic scheduling for a cinema, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a structural configuration of anelectronic apparatus that controls playing a movie in accordance with adynamic schedule according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a schematic operational flow of an electronicapparatus that controls playing a movie in accordance with a dynamicschedule according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic interactive operational flow of a cinemasystem according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary configuration diagram of a computer device inwhich an embodiment according to the present disclosure can beimplemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described indetail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Representative applications of an apparatus and a method in accordancewith implementations described herein are provided in this section.These examples are provided only to add context and to aid inunderstanding the described implementations. It will be apparent tothose skilled in the art that the implementations of the presentdisclosure can be practiced without some or all of these specificdetails. In other instances, well known process steps have not beendescribed in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring theimplementations described herein. Other applications are also possible,such that the following examples should not be considered as limiting.

Note that similar reference numerals and letters refer to similar itemsin the figures, thus once an item is defined in a figure, it is notnecessarily to be discussed in the following figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary cinema system in accordance with thepresent disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, the exemplary cinema system mayinclude a first electronic apparatus 10 for realizing dynamic schedulingfor a cinema and a second electronic apparatus 20A-20C associated withrespective cinema for controlling playing a movie in accordance with adynamic schedule. Hereinafter, an electronic apparatus for realizingdynamic scheduling for a cinema is collectively referred to as a firstelectronic apparatus and an electronic apparatus for controlling playinga movie in accordance with a dynamic schedule is collectively referredto as a second electronic apparatus. Although three of the secondelectronic apparatus are illustrated in FIG. 1, the cinema system mayinclude more or less second electronic apparatus, and more generally,the cinema system in accordance with the present disclosure may includeone or more second electronic apparatus (for example, hundreds of). Inparticular, the plurality of second electronic apparatus may be in thesame or different regions. According to the present disclosure, thefirst electronic apparatus 10 may collect user preferences of aplurality of users, wherein the user preference specifies at least amovie that a user desires to watch, a time for watching the movie, acinema for watching the movie, and a number of people watching themovie; generating, based on the collected user preferences, a respectivedynamic schedule for at least one cinema of a plurality of cinemasaccording to one of a plurality of scheduling schemes; and transmittingthe generated respective dynamic schedule to at least one secondelectronic apparatus corresponding to the at least one cinema. Accordingto the present disclosure, the second electronic apparatus 20A-20C canreceive a dynamic schedule from the first electronic apparatus; andcontrol playing of a movie based on the dynamic schedule, wherein thedynamic schedule is generated based on a plurality of user preferences,according to one of a plurality of scheduling schemes.

Thereby, the system according to the present disclosure canautomatically generate a respective dynamic schedule for one or morecinemas collectively based on user preferences by means of the firstelectronic apparatus, and can control, by means of the second electronicapparatus, the playing of movie(s) in the cinema associated with thesecond electronic apparatus based on the respective dynamic schedulereceived from the first electronic apparatus, thereby enablingmovie-goers to flexibly choose the cinema, date, time, and movie towatch according to their needs.

An exemplary cinema system in accordance with the present disclosure isbriefly introduced above in conjunction with FIG. 1, and embodiments ofthe present disclosure will be explained in detail below with referenceto the drawings.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic structural configuration of an electronicapparatus 200 (hereinafter simply referred to as a first electronicapparatus 200) for realizing dynamic scheduling for a cinema accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, thefirst electronic apparatus 200 may include a user preference collectionunit 202, a dynamic scheduling unit 204, a communication unit 206, arecommendation information generation unit 208, and aregistration/authentication unit 210. Although FIG. 2 illustrates theabove five units, the first electronic apparatus 200 may further includeother possible units, or a combination of units including any of abovefive units.

The user preference collection unit 202 is configured, for example, tocollect user preferences of a plurality of users. The user preference,for example, specifies at least a movie that a user desires to watch, atime for watching the movie, a cinema for watching the movie, and thenumber of people watching the movie. It is to be noted that the term“time” herein generally has its broad meaning unless otherwiseexplicitly stated, for example, “time” may include the date and the hourin a day. The user preference may also specify other content, forexample, but not limited to, a type of consumption (such as blockbooking or retail), a hall in the cinema (for example, a specific hallor a type of hall (such as IMAX, 4K, VIP halls, general halls, and thelike) may be specified), as well as seating regions (such as rowregions, column regions, or block regions composed of specific rows andcolumns) may be specified.

The user preference collection unit 202 can collect user preferences ina variety of ways. For example, user preferences can be received from auser through a particular webpage interface or application interface.The webpage interface or application interface can provide acorresponding interface for the user to specify or choose theirrespective preferences from a list conveniently.

According to the present disclosure, the collected user preferences maybe stored, for example, in the form of a database in a storageaccessible by the first electronic apparatus 200 or in a storagedisposed within the first electronic apparatus 200. The database can beimplemented by employing a variety of database techniques known in theart.

The dynamic scheduling unit 204 is configured, for example, to generatea respective dynamic schedule for at least one of multiple cinemasaccording to one of a plurality of scheduling schemes, based on thecollected user preferences. The plurality of scheduling schemes mayinclude, for example, a first scheme based on a number of movie-goers, asecond scheme based on an amount of money, and a third scheme based on atype of consumption.

Generating the dynamic schedule according to the first scheme comprises,for example, calculating a number of people who desire to watch a samemovie in a same cinema at a close time based on the collected userpreferences of the plurality of users, and in the case that thecalculated number of people is greater than a first threshold,confirming a schedule for the movie for the cinema at the time.

Specifically, according to the first scheme, the dynamic scheduling unit204 may, based on the collected user preferences of a plurality ofusers, sequentially sort the respective contents specified in the userpreferences, so as to calculate the number of people who desire to viewthe same movie in the same cinema at a close time. For example, thedynamic scheduling unit 204 may first sort the movies, then sort thecinemas for user preference data that specifies the same movie, and thenfurther sort the time for user preference data that specifies the samecinema, thereby, the user preference data group obtained by sorting isone or more pieces of user preference data specifying the same movie,the same cinema, and the close time, so that the number of movie-goerscan be conveniently counted within the set of user preference data todecide whether a schedule can be confirmed. According to the presentdisclosure, the above process of sorting the respective contentsspecified in the user preferences may also be performed in other orders(may be in the order of, such as, movie, cinema and time, or time, movieand cinema, etc.) as long as the user preference data set that specifiesthe same movie, the same cinema, and the close time can be finallyobtained.

According to the first scheme, the close time may represent the sametime period, or represents a difference between the time points at whichdifferent users desire to watch the movie is less than a third threshold(e.g., 1 hour or another threshold that may be determined according toactual situations.) This makes it possible to collect the time period(for example, 2 pm to 3 pm on a certain day in a certain month in acertain year) and/or the time point (for example, 2 pm on a certain dayin a certain month in a certain year) when the user desires to watch themovie while collecting user preferences. The dynamic scheduling unit 204can determine the specific time of the movie schedule according to thesorting result for the close time. For example, the dynamic schedulingunit 204 may determine any suitable time in the time period specified inthe user preference or in the time period determined based on thesorting result of the close time in the case that the user preferencespecifies the time point, as the schedule time at which the movie is tobe played, in consideration of factors such as user preferred watchingtime of other movies which the schedules thereof are to be confirmed inthe same cinema on the same day, the duration of each movie, theinterval between movies, and the duration of playing advertisements andthe like.

According to the first scheme, the first threshold value associated withthe calculated number of people watching the movie for confirming theschedule may be flexibly set or dynamically adjusted according to actualsituations. For example, the threshold can be set in accordance with thenumber of seats in respective hall of a cinema and the expectedattendance rate. Further, in the case that the preference data includesthe hall desired by the user, the threshold may also be dynamicallyadjusted according to the specified hall or the type of the hall. Forexample, in the case that the type of the hall is VIP hall, thethreshold can be adjusted to be relatively small, while in the case thatthe type of the hall refers to lots of seats, such as IMAX, thethreshold can be adjusted to be relatively large. As another example,the threshold may be set or dynamically adjusted in accordance with thetime for watching the movie specified in the user preference. Forexample, at unpopular time such as the morning of a day or working daysof a week, the threshold may be appropriately determined to be arelatively small value, and at popular time such as the evening of a dayor festivals or holidays, the threshold may be appropriately determinedto be a relatively large value. In this way, by setting or dynamicallyadjusting the first threshold, it is possible to balance user needs aswell as the commercial needs of different cinemas.

Generating the dynamic schedule according to the second schemecomprises, for example, calculating a turnover of playing a same moviein a same cinema at a close time based on the collected user preferencesof the plurality of users and a pricing of a specific movie in aspecific cinema, and in the case that the calculated turnover is greaterthan a second threshold, confirming a schedule for the movie for thecinema at the time.

Specifically, in the case of generating the dynamic schedule accordingto the second scheme, the first electronic apparatus 200 may alsocollect pricing information of different cinemas for different movies.For example, the first electronic apparatus 200 may request pricinginformation of movies to each second electronic apparatus associatedwith each cinema. For another example, each second electronic apparatusassociated with each cinema can periodically transmit the pricinginformation of movies to the first electronic apparatus.

According to the second aspect, the dynamic scheduling unit 204 may,based on the collected user preferences of a plurality of users,sequentially sort the respective contents specified in the userpreferences, to facilitate calculation of the number of people whodesire to watch the same movie in the same cinema at a close time, andcalculate the turnover of playing the same movie in the same cinema atthe close time based on the number of people and the pricing informationcollected. The sorting method is similar to the one described above, andwill not be repeated here.

According to the second scheme, the turnover can be calculated simply bymultiplying the pricing of the movie by the number of people watchingthe movie. Alternatively, the operating cost of the cinema can also beconsidered, and the turnover is calculated by multiplying the pricing ofthe movie by the number of people watching the movie and subtracting theoperating cost. In consideration of the operating cost of the cinema,the first electronic apparatus 200 may also collect operating costs ofdifferent cinemas for different movies periodically or based onrequests.

Similar to the first scheme, in the second scheme, the close time mayrepresent the same time period, or may represent that the differencebetween the time points at which different users desire to watch themovie is less than a predetermined threshold (for example, 1 hour oranother threshold that may be determined according to actualsituations.) And, the dynamic scheduling unit 204 determines thespecific time of the movie schedule according to the sorting result forthe close time in a manner similar to the first scheme.

According to a second aspect, the second threshold associated with thecalculated turnover for confirming the schedule may be flexibly set ordynamically adjusted according to actual situations. For example, thethreshold can be set or dynamically adjusted according to the time forwatching the movie specified in the user preference. For example, atunpopular time such as the morning of a day or working days of a week,the threshold may be appropriately determined to be a relatively smallvalue, and at popular time such as the evening of a day or festivals orholidays, the threshold may be appropriately determined to be arelatively large value. In this way, by setting or dynamically adjustingthe second threshold, it is possible to balance user needs as well asthe commercial needs of different cinemas.

According to the present disclosure, the plurality of scheduling schemesmay also include a third scheme based on the type of consumption, whichmay be, for example, block booking or non-block booking (e.g., retail).Generating the dynamic schedule according to the third scheme comprises,for example, in the case that the type of consumption is block booking,confirming a schedule for the movie for the cinema at the time, and inthe case that the type of consumption is not block booking, generatingthe dynamic schedule according to the above first scheme or the secondscheme. In particular, in the case that the user preference does notspecify the type of consumption, the type of consumption can be set to adefault value that is non-block booking. In the case that the type ofconsumption is block booking, in the process of determining the specificscheduling time, similar to the first scheme and the second scheme, thedynamic scheduling unit 204 may determine any suitable time in the timeperiod specified in the user preference or in the time period determinedbased on the sorting result of the close time in the case that the userpreference specifies the time point, as the schedule time at which themovie is to be played, in consideration of factors such as userpreferred watching time of other movies which the schedules thereof areto be confirmed in the same cinema on the same day, the duration of eachmovie, the interval between movies, and the duration of playingadvertisements and the like.

The three schemes for generating the dynamic schedule have been detailedabove. In practice, the dynamic scheduling unit 204 can select theappropriate scheme for each cinema to perform dynamic schedulingaccording to different needs. In other words, the scheduling schemes maybe different for a plurality of different cinemas corresponding to thefirst electronic apparatus 200. For example, for a newly opened cinemaor a cinema with a relatively small number of movie-goers due togeographical location, etc., the first scheme based on the number ofmovie-goers can be selected to generate the dynamic schedule, so that itis convenient to determine the schedule based on the number of people.For another example, for a cinema where the number of movie-goers isusually large and it is easy to cause conflicts only based on the numberof movie-goers, or for a cinema with higher turnover requirement, thesecond scheme based on the amount of money can selected, so that theschedule can be confirmed in comprehensive consideration of the economicbenefits of the cinema on the basis of the number of movie-goers. Thefactors of the above-mentioned for assisting in selecting a dynamicscheduling scheme are merely exemplary, and those skilled in the art mayalso select respective dynamic scheduling scheme for cinemas accordingto actual situations in connection with commercial needs inconsideration of other factors.

Further, in the case that schedules for a plurality of movies in acertain period of time in the same cinema are confirmed, the dynamicscheduling unit 204 can arrange respective hall for each movie based onfactors such as the number of seats in each hall of the cinema, the hallor the type of the hall specified in the user's preference, and thenumber of people watching the movie in the confirmed schedule and thelike, and add the arranged hall information to the respective dynamicschedule data.

According to the present disclosure, in the case that there is ascheduling conflict for different movies at the same time in the samecinema, the dynamic scheduling unit 204 may also confirm the scheduleaccording to any one or more of the following: a time when the userprovided the user preference, a user's identity and a turnover ofplaying the movie. For multiple sets of user preference data withscheduling conflict, the dynamic scheduling unit 204 can confirm theschedule based on the user preference data set corresponding to one ormore users who provided the user preference(s) earliest. For example,assuming that there is a scheduling conflict for two sets of userpreferences, the time when each user provided its user preference in thetwo sets of user preference data can be compared, and the schedule isconfirmed based on the user preference set corresponding to the user whoprovided its user preference data earliest, alternatively, the number oftimes that a user provided its user preference earlier than a certaintime in the two sets can be counted respectively, thereby the userpreference set with higher number counted is selected to confirm theschedule based thereon. The dynamic scheduling unit 204 can confirm theschedule based on the user's identity, i.e., whether the user is a highpriority user (e.g., a VIP user) in the event of a scheduling conflict.For example, assuming that there is a scheduling conflict for two setsof user preferences, the number of users with high priority in the twosets can be counted respectively, thereby the user preference set withhigher number counted is selected to confirm the schedule based thereon.The dynamic scheduling unit 204 can also confirm the schedule in theevent of a scheduling conflict based on the turnover of playing themovie. For example, in the event of a conflict, a set of userpreferences with a higher turnover can be selected to confirm theschedule based thereon.

The dynamic scheduling unit 204 can also confirm the schedule in theevent of a conflict based on a combination of two or three of: a timewhen the user provided the user preference, a user's identity, and aturnover of playing the movie. For example, one factor may be consideredfirst, and the other one or more factors may be further considered toconfirm the schedule only if the scheduling conflict cannot be resolvedbased solely on that factor. Alternatively, the dynamic scheduling unit204 may also allocate certain weights to the above three factors, andcomprehensively consider the three factors to resolve the schedulingconflict based on the weighted calculation score. For example, assumingthat there is a scheduling conflict for two sets of user preferences, aweight of 0.1 may be allocated for the time when the user provided theuser preference, a weight of 0.4 for the user's identity, and a weightof 0.5 for the turnover of playing the movie, and the dynamic schedulingunit 204 may determine how to confirm the schedule for the threefactors, respectively, for example, assuming that, for the time that theuser provided the user preference alone, it is determined that theschedule should be confirmed based on set A, for the user's identityalone, it is determined that the schedule should be confirmed based onset B, and for the turnover alone, it is determined that the scheduleshould be confirmed based on set A, then with comprehensiveconsideration of these three factors, the score for set A can be0.1+0.5=0.6, and the score for set B can be 0.4, due to the score forset A is higher than the score for set B, it is finally determined thatthe schedule is to be confirmed based on set A.

According to the present disclosure, the communication unit 206 can beconfigured to transmit the recommendation information generated by therecommendation information generation unit 208 to the user correspondingto a user preference in the case that the schedule that satisfies theuser preference cannot be confirmed; transmit the generated respectivedynamic schedule to at least one second electronic apparatuscorresponding to at least one cinema; and communicate with the secondelectronic apparatus corresponding to each cinema under control of theregistration/authentication unit 210, such that each second electronicapparatus registers with the first electronic apparatus. This will bedetailed separately below.

According to the present disclosure, the communication unit 206 can beconfigured to, for a user preference of at least one user, transmitrecommendation information to the user in the case that the schedulethat satisfies the user preference is not confirmed. The communicationunit 206 can transmit the recommendation information to the user via aspecific webpage interface, an application interface, or an SMS message.

The recommendation information may be generated by the recommendationinformation generating unit 208. The recommendation information mayinclude one or more of the following information related to theschedules that have been confirmed: first alternative scheduleinformation, wherein the cinema for the first alternative schedule isthe same as the cinema specified in the user preference, the time forwatching a movie for the first alternative schedule is close to the timespecified in the user preference, while the movie for the firstalternate schedule is different from the movie specified in the userpreference; second alternative schedule information, wherein the moviefor the second alternate schedule is the same as the movie specified inthe user preference, the time for watching the movie for the secondalternate schedule is close to the time specified in the userpreference, while the cinema for the second alternate schedule isdifferent from the cinema specified in the user preference; thirdalternative schedule information, wherein the movie and the cinema forthe third alternate schedule are the same as the movie and cinemaspecified in the user preference, while the time for watching the moviefor the third alternate schedule is different from the time specified inthe user preference. It is to be noted that, in the description of theabove alternative schedule information, the time for watching a moviebeing close to the time specified in the user preference indicates thatthe time for watching a movie falls within the time period specified inthe user preference, or indicates that the difference between the timefor watching a movie and the time specified in the user preference isless than a predetermined threshold.

According to the present disclosure, the communication unit 206 can beconfigured to communicate the generated respective dynamic schedules toat least one second electronic apparatus corresponding to at least onecinema. The communication unit 206 does not need to transmit all of thegenerated dynamic schedules (for all cinemas in the cinema system) toeach of the second electronic apparatus. In other words, thecommunication unit 206 can transmit the dynamic schedule for a specificcinema to the second electronic apparatus corresponding to that cinema,thereby performing targeted transmission to reduce the amount oftransmission data and simplify the processing of the second electronicapparatus at the receiving end.

According to the present disclosure, the communication unit 206 cantransmit a dynamic schedule for a specific time period for a cinemacorresponding to the second electronic apparatus to the secondelectronic apparatus based on the request of the second electronicapparatus. For example, the request may include time period informationcorresponding to the dynamic schedule, such as the request may include arequest for a dynamic schedule of a certain day or may include a requestfor a dynamic schedule for a certain number of days. In this case, thefirst electronic apparatus 200 may check the time period included in therequest to confirm that the time period corresponds to a future timeperiod and there is an already confirmed dynamic schedule for the timeperiod, and in the case that the check fails (for example, the timeperiod corresponds to elapsed time, or there is no dynamic schedule forthe time period), a corresponding notification is made to the secondelectronic apparatus via the communication unit 206.

Alternatively, the request may not include any time period information,and the first electronic apparatus 200 may transmit a dynamic schedulefor a specific time period for the cinema corresponding to the secondelectronic apparatus to the second electronic apparatus via thecommunication unit 206 based on the agreement of the first electronicapparatus and the second electronic apparatus corresponding to thecinema. In this case, the specific time period may be the second day ora certain day following arbitrary number of days after the firstelectronic apparatus having received the request, or may be certainseveral days following arbitrary number of days after the firstelectronic apparatus having received the request. In other words, in thecase that the request information does not include the time periodinformation, the first electronic apparatus may, based on the agreement,via the communication unit, transmit the dynamic schedule for the cinemacorresponding to the second electronic apparatus for the second day or acertain day following arbitrary number of days or certain several daysfollowing arbitrary number of days after having received the request tothe second electronic apparatus. This approach can advantageouslysimplify the content of the request, thereby facilitating thecorresponding processing by both electronic apparatus.

Alternatively, the request may also be made for one or some particularmovies. For example, the request received by the first electronicapparatus can include a particular one or more movie names and/or movieidentifiers. Based on such a request, the first electronic apparatus mayfirst check whether the movie names and/or the movie identifiersincluded in the received request are included in a known movie list,which corresponds to movies that the cinema corresponding to the secondelectronic apparatus which made the request can retrieve. In the casethat the movie names and/or the movie identifiers included in therequest are included in the known movie list, the first electronicapparatus may transmit only dynamic schedules related to the movie namesand/or the movie identifiers to the second electronic apparatus via thecommunication unit 206. Similarly, such a request including movie namesand/or movie identifiers may also include or not include time periodinformation as described above.

According to the present disclosure, in the case of transmitting adynamic schedule based on a request, the first electronic apparatus mayfurther authenticate the second electronic apparatus which made therequest based on registration information by means of theregistration/authentication unit 210, and in the case that theauthentication fails, transmit the information of request failure to thesecond electronic apparatus through the communication unit 206 to rejectthe request. The registration/authentication process regarding thesecond electronic apparatus will be described below with reference tothe registration/authentication unit 210.

According to the present disclosure, the communication unit 206 can alsoperiodically transmit the generated respective dynamic schedule to atleast one second electronic apparatus corresponding to at least onecinema. For example, the generated dynamic schedule can be transmittedto the second electronic apparatus a few days or hours before the showtime specified in the confirmed dynamic schedule without waiting for arequest from the second electronic apparatus.

According to the present disclosure, the communication unit 206 can beconfigured to communicate the generated respective dynamic schedules toat least one second electronic apparatus corresponding to at least onecinema. Prior to transmitting the dynamic schedules, the communicationunit 206 can be configured to process dynamic schedules in accordancewith a predetermined protocol, and the processing enables the secondelectronic apparatus to interpret the received data. For example, thecommunication unit 206 can encapsulate the dynamic schedule data inaccordance with rules specified in the predetermined protocol agreedbetween the first electronic apparatus and the second electronicapparatus. For example, the rules may specify fields related to thedynamic schedule data and data content within the fields. One example ofthe rules could be: {name: “movie name”, date: “2019-08-01”, time:“13:14:00”, zone: “UTC”, hall: “hall number”}, where, “name”, “date”,“time”, “zone”, and “hall” represent fields in which the movie name,date, time, time zone, and hall number can be encapsulated accordingly.It should be noted that the rule is merely an exemplary rule, and otherrules may be determined according to actual situations. For example,more or fewer fields may be included, and the content and length of thedata within the field are correspondingly defined. According to thepresent disclosure, the communication unit 206 can utilize any of theknown transmission layer protocols (e.g., such as TCP and UDP) tocommunicate the dynamic schedule data processed as described above.

According to the present disclosure, the communication unit 206 can alsobe configured to encrypt the generated respective dynamic schedules tocommunicate the encrypted dynamic schedule data to at least one secondelectronic apparatus corresponding to at least one cinema.

According to the present disclosure, the communication unit 206 may beconfigured to communicate with the second electronic apparatuscorresponding to each cinema under the control of theregistration/authentication unit 210 to cause each second electronicapparatus to register with the first electronic apparatus. Descriptionwill be made below in conjunction with the registration/authenticationunit 210.

According to the present disclosure, the second electronic apparatus mayregister with the first electronic apparatus at the system configurationstage or when a new second electronic apparatus corresponding to a newmovie cinema is added to the cinema system according to the presentdisclosure. For example, the registration/authentication unit 210 of thefirst electronic apparatus may receive the identity information of thesecond electronic apparatus (such as the city, region where the cinemais located, and cinema name) from the second electronic apparatus forregistration. The registration/authentication unit 210 stores theidentity information in a respective storage and allocates a uniqueidentifier (e.g., ID) to each of the second electronic apparatus.Alternatively, the registration/authentication unit 210 may require thesecond electronic apparatus to set its identifier on the secondelectronic apparatus side based on the identifier rule (e.g., set by thesecond electronic apparatus itself or set by the user of the secondelectronic apparatus), In this case, the registration/authenticationunit 210 can check whether the received identifier is duplicated with anexisting identifier, and in the case of duplication, prompt to thesecond electronic apparatus via the communication unit 206 to reset theidentifier.

According to the present disclosure, upon receiving a request for adynamic schedule from the second electronic apparatus via thecommunication unit 206, the registration/authentication unit 210 mayauthenticate the second electronic apparatus based on the identifier ofthe second electronic apparatus included in the request. For example,the registration/authentication unit 210 can retrieve among the storedregistered identifiers to determine if there is an identifier thatmatches the identifier contained in the received request, and determineauthentication failed if there is no matching identifier. Further, toimprove security, the authentication process may also include achallenge process known in the art.

The structural configuration of the first electronic apparatus 200according to the present disclosure has been described in detail above.A schematic operational flow 300 of an electronic apparatus forrealizing dynamic scheduling for a cinema according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 3 below.

As shown in FIG. 3, the operational flow begins at step S302. At stepS304, the first electronic apparatus communicates with each secondelectronic apparatus corresponding to each cinema to cause each secondelectronic apparatus to register with the first electronic apparatus. Asdescribed above, registration may occur during initial configuration ofthe cinema system or when a new second electronic apparatuscorresponding to a new cinema is newly added to the cinema system. Forthe second electronic apparatus that has been registered with the firstelectronic apparatus, the registration step can be omitted.

Subsequently, at step S306, the first electronic apparatus collects userpreference data of a plurality of users. The specific operations relatedto collecting user preferences have been described in detail above withreference to the user preference collection unit 202, and will not berepeated here again.

Subsequently, at step S308, the first electronic apparatus generates arespective dynamic schedule for at least one of the plurality of cinemasaccording to one of the plurality of scheduling schemes based on thecollected user preferences. As described above, the plurality ofscheduling schemes may include a first scheme based on the number ofmovie-goers, a second scheme based on the amount of money, and a thirdscheme based on the type of consumption. The first electronic apparatuscan select different schemes for each cinema to perform dynamicscheduling according to different needs of each cinema. In the operationof determining the dynamic schedule, the first electronic apparatus mayalso determine the schedule that can be confirmed according to one ormore of the time that user preference was provided, the user's identity,and the turnover of playing movie, in the case that there is ascheduling conflict.

Next, optionally, in the case that the schedule that satisfies the userpreference for a certain user cannot be confirmed, at step S310, thefirst electronic apparatus generates recommendation information based onthe user preference and the determined schedule(s) and may transmit thegenerated recommendation information to the user. The recommendationinformation may include already confirmed alternative scheduleinformation, and the alternative schedule can be a schedule that hasbeen confirmed, and be the same as any two of the cinema, movie, andtime specified in the user preference, and here, the time being the sameindicates, as described above, that the time to watch a movie fallswithin the time period specified in the user preference, or thedifference between the time to watch a movie and the time pointspecified in the user preference is less than a predetermined threshold.

Subsequently, at step S312, the first electronic apparatus transmits thegenerated (i.e., confirmed) dynamic schedule to the respective secondelectronic apparatus. As described above, the dynamic schedule can betransmitted to the second electronic apparatus based on a request fromthe second electronic apparatus or periodically.

Finally, the operational flow ends at step S314.

It should be noted that the operational flow 300 of the first electronicapparatus according to the present disclosure is merely illustrative,and those skilled in the art can modify the operational flow accordingto actual situations. The order of the various steps can be adjusted asappropriate or performed in parallel, for example, the step ofgenerating and transmitting recommendation information may be performedafter the transmission of the dynamic schedule, or may be performed inparallel with the latter. Moreover, the operational flow 300 can alsoinclude other steps, for example, in the case of transmitting a dynamicschedule based on a request, steps of receiving the request andauthenticating the second electronic apparatus can also be included.

The schematic structural configuration and schematic operational flow ofan electronic apparatus for realizing dynamic scheduling for a cinemaare described above with reference to the accompanying drawings. Next,an electronic apparatus that controls playing of a movie according to adynamic schedule will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

As shown in FIG. 4, an electronic apparatus 400 (hereinafter simplyreferred to as the second electronic apparatus 400) for controllingplaying a movie according to a dynamic schedule is illustrated. As shownin FIG. 4, the second electronic apparatus 400 may include acommunication unit 402, a movie playing control unit 404, and aregistration unit 406. Although FIG. 4 illustrates the above threeunits, the second electronic apparatus 400 may further include otherpossible units, or a combination of units including any of the abovethree units.

The communication unit 402 is configured, for example, to receive adynamic schedule from a first electronic apparatus. The dynamic scheduleis generated according to one of a plurality of scheduling schemes basedon a plurality of user preferences, wherein the user preferencespecifies at least a movie that the user desires to watch, a time forwatching the movie, a cinema for watching the movie, and the number ofpeople watching the movie. It is to be noted that the dynamic schedulereceived by the communication unit 402 may be a schedule only for thecinema corresponding to the second electronic apparatus, rather than forall cinemas in the cinema system. In this way, the amount ofcommunication data can be reduced and the reception processing of thesecond electronic apparatus can be simplified. The user preference hasbeen described in detail above with reference to the first electronicapparatus, and will not repeated here again. Additionally, as describedabove, the plurality of scheduling schemes may include, for example, afirst scheme based on a number of movie-goers, a second scheme based onan amount of money, and a third scheme based on a type of consumption.The specific operations of how to select a scheduling scheme for acinema and generate dynamic schedules according to these three schemeshave been described in detail above, and will not repeated here again.Additionally, the dynamic schedule received by the communication unit402 is a schedule that has been confirmed. Further, in the case thatthere is a scheduling conflict for different movies at the same time inthe same cinema, the dynamic schedule received by the communication unit402 is confirmed based on any one or more of: a time when the userprovided the user preference, a user's identity and a turnover ofplaying the movie. The specific operations for resolving schedulingconflict to confirm the schedule have been described in detail above,and will not be repeated here again.

According to the present disclosure, the communication unit 402 can beconfigured to interpret data transmitted from the first electronicapparatus to receive a dynamic schedule in accordance with apredetermined protocol. For example, the communication unit 402 canprocess the received encapsulated data in accordance with rulesspecified in the predetermined protocol agreed between the firstelectronic apparatus and the second electronic apparatus, to decode thedynamic schedule data therefrom. For example, as described above, therules may specify fields related to the dynamic schedule data and datacontent within the fields. The communication unit 402 can decode thedata corresponding to various fields according to the rules, thusinterpreting the dynamic schedule.

According to the present disclosure, the communication unit 402 canfurther be configured to decrypt the received data.

According to the present disclosure, the second electronic apparatus 400may receive a dynamic schedule from the first electronic apparatus afterregistering with the first electronic apparatus. The communication unit402 can communicate with the first electronic apparatus under thecontrol of the registration unit 406 to register with the firstelectronic apparatus. For example, when the second electronic apparatusis first added to the cinema system according to the present disclosure,the second electronic apparatus can register with the first electronicapparatus. For example, the registration unit 406 of the secondelectronic apparatus generates identity information of the secondelectronic apparatus (such as the city, region where the cinema islocated, and cinema name), and transmits the identity information to thefirst electronic apparatus for registration via the communication unit402. The second electronic apparatus may receive a assigned uniqueidentifier (e.g., an ID) of the second electronic apparatus from thefirst electronic apparatus in response to the registration result.Alternatively, the registration unit 406 may also control to set anidentifier conforming to an identifier rule on the second electronicapparatus side and control to transmit the identifier set to the firstelectronic apparatus via the communication unit in response to arequirement of the first electronic apparatus. In this case, theregistration unit 406 may generate an identifier by itself according tothe identifier rule and display the generated identifier to the user ofthe second electronic apparatus, or the registration unit 406 maycontrol to display the identifier rule on a display device (e.g., can bea display on the second electronic apparatus or a separate displayconnected to the second electronic apparatus) on the second electronicapparatus side to assist the user of the second electronic apparatus toinput a identifier conforming to the rule to the second electronicapparatus. In addition, in the case that an identifier conforming to theidentifier rule is set on the second electronic apparatus side, theregistration unit 406 may, in response to the first electronic apparatusfor the check result of whether the received identifier is duplicatedwith an existing identifier, and in the case of duplicating, performcontrol to reset the identifier.

According to the present disclosure, the second electronic apparatus 400may authenticate to the first electronic apparatus via the communicationunit 402 and request a dynamic schedule. The communication unit 402 cantransmit the dynamic scheduling request for a specific time periodcorresponding to the cinema of the second electronic apparatus alongwith the identifier of the second electronic apparatus to the firstelectronic apparatus. As described above, the identifier may be used bythe first electronic apparatus to detect whether it is matching with anidentifier of any of a plurality of registered second electronicapparatus, and in the case that there is no matching identifier, thecommunication unit 402 can receive a notification of the authenticationfailure and the request being rejected from the first electronicapparatus. Further, to improve security, the authentication process mayalso include a challenge process known in the art, in which case thesecond electronic apparatus 400 may also calculate and sendcorresponding challenge response.

The dynamic scheduling request may include time period informationcorresponding to a dynamic schedule, for example, the request mayinclude a request for a dynamic schedule for a certain day or mayinclude a request for a dynamic schedule for a certain number of days.In particular, in the case that the time period information included inthe transmitted dynamic scheduling request corresponds to elapsed time,or there is no dynamic schedule for the time period, the secondelectronic apparatus 400 may receive a notification from the firstelectronic apparatus to prompt that the request cannot be responded.Alternatively, the request may also not include any time periodinformation, in which case the second electronic apparatus 400 receives,based on an agreement between the first electronic apparatus and thesecond electronic apparatus, the dynamic schedule within a specific timeperiod for the cinema corresponding to the second electronic apparatusvia the communication unit 402. For example, the specific time periodmay be the second day or a certain day following arbitrary number ofdays after the first electronic apparatus having received the request,or may be certain several days following arbitrary number of days afterthe first electronic apparatus having received the request. In otherwords, in a case that the request information does not include the timeperiod information, the second electronic apparatus may, based on theagreement, via the communication unit, receive the dynamic schedule forthe cinema corresponding to the second electronic apparatus for thesecond day or a certain day following arbitrary number of days orcertain several days following arbitrary number of days after the firstelectronic apparatus having received the request. This approach canadvantageously simplify the content of the request, thereby facilitatingthe corresponding processing by both electronic apparatus.

Dynamic scheduling requests can also be made for certain one or somespecific movies. For example, the request transmitted by the secondelectronic apparatus to the first electronic apparatus may includeparticular one or more movie names and/or movie identifiers. In the casethat the movie names and/or the movie identifiers included in therequest are included in a known movie list, the second electronicapparatus may receive via the communication unit 402 only dynamicschedules related to the movie names and/or the movie identifiers.Similarly, such a request including movie names and/or movie identifiersmay also include or not include time period information as describedabove.

According to the present disclosure, the communication unit 402 can alsoperiodically receive dynamic schedule(s) from the first electronicapparatus. In this case, the second electronic apparatus can receive thedynamic schedule from the first electronic apparatus a few days or hoursbefore the show time specified in the dynamic schedule confirmed by thefirst electronic apparatus, without sending any request about thedynamic schedule.

The movie playing control unit 404 can be configured to control playinga movie based on a received dynamic schedule. For example, the movieplaying control unit can control a movie playing system to retrievemovie material corresponding to the movie specified in the dynamicschedule in accordance with the date and time specified in the receiveddynamic schedule and control the movie playing system to play the moviematerial in the designated hall. In particular, the movie material maybe digital movie material. In this case, the movie playing control unit404 may control the movie playing system to decrypt and decode thedigital movie material at the designated date and time according to thedynamic schedule. It should be noted that the movie material can bestored locally in each cinema or stored remotely (for example, cloudstorage). The movie playing control unit 404 can appropriately retrievethe desired movie material from the local storage or the remote storageaccording to the received dynamic schedule.

The structural configuration of a second electronic apparatus 400according to the present disclosure has been described in detail above.A schematic operational flow 500 of an electronic apparatus thatcontrols playing movies according to a dynamic schedule will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 5 below according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 5, the operational flow begins at step S502. At stepS504, the second electronic apparatus registers with a first electronicapparatus. As described above, the registration may occur when thesecond electronic apparatus is first added to a cinema system inaccordance with the present disclosure. For the second electronicapparatus that has been registered with the first electronic apparatus,the registration step can be omitted.

Subsequently, at step S506, the second electronic apparatus receives adynamic schedule from the first electronic apparatus. As describedabove, the second electronic apparatus can authenticate to the firstelectronic apparatus and request a dynamic schedule so as to receive adynamic schedule in response to the request if the authenticationsucceeds. Or, the second electronic apparatus can periodically receivedynamic schedules from the first electronic apparatus.

Next, at step S508, the second electronic apparatus controls playing ofa movie based on the received dynamic schedule. As described above, thesecond electronic apparatus can control the movie playing system of thecinema corresponding to the second electronic apparatus to retrievemovie material corresponding to the movie specified in the dynamicschedule in accordance with the date and time specified in the receiveddynamic schedule, and control the movie playing system to play the moviematerial in the designated hall.

Finally, the operational flow ends at step S510.

A schematic interactive operational flow of a cinema system of anembodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference toFIG. 6 below.

As shown in FIG. 6, in an initial configuration of a cinema systemaccording to the present disclosure, a first electronic apparatus cancommunicate with one or more second electronic apparatus to cause eachsecond electronic apparatus to register with the first electronicapparatus. As indicated above, the registration process may also occurwhen a new second electronic apparatus is added to the cinema systemduring operation of the cinema system. After, before or in parallel withthe registration process, the first electronic apparatus may collectfrom users (i.e., the movie-goers) user preferences including the moviesthat users desire to watch, the time for watching the movies, thecinemas for watching the movies, and the number of people watching themovies and the like.

After collecting the user preferences, the first electronic apparatusmay select one of a plurality of scheduling schemes for differentcinemas according to their needs to generate a respective dynamicschedule for each cinema. As described above, the plurality ofscheduling schemes may include, for example, a first scheme based on anumber of movie-goers, a second scheme based on an amount of money, anda third scheme based on a type of consumption. In addition, although notshown in FIG. 6, in the case that there is a scheduling conflict fordifferent movies at the same time in the same cinema, the firstelectronic apparatus may also confirm the schedule according to any oneor more of the following: a time when the user provided the userpreference, a user's identity and a turnover of playing the movie.

After respective dynamic schedule for each cinema is generated, thefirst electronic apparatus may process the dynamic schedule inaccordance with a predetermined protocol, and transmit the processeddynamic schedule data to the second electronic apparatus (e.g.,periodically) via an appropriate transmission layer protocol. The secondelectronic apparatus can receive the data transmitted from the firstelectronic apparatus, interpret the dynamic schedule in accordance withthe predetermined protocol, and control playing of the movie inaccordance with the interpreted dynamic schedule. Thus, the user is ableto visit his or her desired cinema on desired date and time according tohis or her preference to watch desired movie.

Referring to FIG. 6, the above schematic interactive operational flowmay also include some optional steps. For example, in the case thatschedules that satisfy certain user preferences cannot be confirmed, thefirst electronic apparatus may generate recommendation information basedon these user preferences and the confirmed schedules, as describedabove, the recommendation information may include already confirmedalternative schedule information, and the alternative schedule can be aschedule that has been confirmed, satisfying any two of the cinema,movie, and time specified in the user preferences. In the case that therecommendation information is generated, the first electronic apparatusmay transmit the recommendation information to a relevant user.

Additionally, the second electronic apparatus can request a dynamicschedule from the first electronic apparatus. In this case, the firstelectronic apparatus and the second electronic apparatus may alsointeract to enable the first electronic apparatus to authenticate thesecond electronic apparatus, and send the dynamic schedule to the secondelectronic apparatus only if the authentication succeeds.

A method and apparatus for realizing dynamic scheduling for a cinema, amethod and apparatus for controlling playing a movie according to thedynamic schedule, and a cinema system have been described above withreference to the accompanying drawings according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

In the solution of the present disclosure, a cinema system can include afirst electronic apparatus for realizing dynamic scheduling for a cinemaand one or more second electronic apparatus for controlling playing amovie according to the dynamic schedule, and the plurality of secondelectronic apparatus can be in different regions. The first electronicapparatus can collect user preferences of the plurality of users andgenerate respective dynamic schedules for cinemas corresponding to theone or more second electronic apparatus simultaneously. Thereby, usersdo not need to go to a specific cinema to reserve a movie ticket, butinstead send his or her preference to the first electronic apparatus ina collectively manner. Moreover, the schedule of each cinema can bedynamically generated according to user preferences, thereby providingbetter personalized movie watching services for users.

In the solution of the present disclosure, the first electronicapparatus collectively and automatically generates respective dynamicschedule(s) for one or more cinemas, thereby eliminating huge amount ofmanual labor, so that movie scheduling can be conducted moreeffectively.

In the solution of the present disclosure, the first electronicapparatus may select an appropriate scheme from multiple schedulingschemes based on the needs of each cinema to generate targeted dynamicschedule(s) respectively. This makes it possible to better balance userneeds and commercial needs of the cinema for each cinema. In addition,each predetermined threshold in each scheduling scheme can also beflexibly set or dynamically adjusted to enable dynamic schedule(s) to begenerated in time in response to changes in demand and/or actualsituations.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary configuration in which the computingdevice 700 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosuremay be implemented. The computing device 700 may be a instance for afirst electronic apparatus for implementing dynamic scheduling for acinema and one or more second electronic apparatus for controllingplaying a movie according to the dynamic schedule, according to thepresent disclosure. The computing device 700 can be any machineconfigured to perform processing and/or computing. The computing device700 can be, but is not limited to, a workstation, a server, a desktopcomputer, a laptop, a tablet, a personal data assistant (PDA), a smartphone, an onboard computer, or a combination of the above.

As shown in FIG. 7, the computing device 700 can include one or moreelements that can be connected to or in communication with the bus 702via one or more interfaces. The bus 702 can include, but is not limitedto, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Micro ChannelArchitecture (MCA) bus, an Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, a Video ElectronicsStandards Association (VESA) local bus, and Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) bus, etc. The computing device 700 can include, forexample, one or more processors 704, one or more input devices 706, andone or more output devices 708. The one or more processors 704 can beany kind of processor and can include, but is not limited to, one ormore general purpose processors or special purpose processors (such as adedicated processing chip). The input device 706 can be any type ofinput device capable of inputting information to a computing device, andcan include, but is not limited to, a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen,a microphone, and/or a remote controller. The output device 708 can beany type of device capable of presenting information and can include,but is not limited to, a display, a speaker, a video/audio outputterminal, a vibrator, and/or a printer.

The computing device 700 can also include or be connected to thenon-transitory storage 714, which can be any storage device that isnon-transitory and can implement data storage, and can include, but isnot limited to, a disk drive, an optical storage device, a solid statememory, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape orany other magnetic medium, a compact disk or any other optical medium, acache memory and/or any other memory chip or module, and/or any othermedium that a computer can read data, instructions, and/or codetherefrom. The computing device 700 can also include the random accessmemory (RAM) 710 and the read-only memory (ROM) 712. The ROM 712 canstore programs, utilities, or processes to be executed in a non-volatilemanner. The RAM 710 can provide volatile data storage and storeinstructions related to the operation of the computing device 700. Thecomputing device 700 can also include the network/bus interface 716 thatis coupled to the data link 718. The network/bus interface 716 can beany kind of device or system capable of enabling communication withexternal apparatus and/or networks, and can include, but is not limitedto, a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, awireless communication device, and/or a chipset (such as a Bluetooth™device, a 1302.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, a cellularcommunication facility, etc.).

It should be further understood that the elements of the computingdevice 700 can be distributed throughout the network. For example, otherremote processors can be used to perform other processes while using oneprocessor to perform some processes. Other elements of the computingdevice 700 may also be similarly distributed. Thus, the computing device700 can be understood as a distributed computing system that performsprocesses at multiple locations.

The various aspects, embodiments, implementations, or features of theforegoing embodiments can be used individually or in any combination.Various aspects of the foregoing embodiments can be implemented bysoftware, hardware, or a combination of hardware and software.

For example, the foregoing embodiments may be embodied as computerreadable code on a computer readable medium. The computer readablemedium is any data storage device that can store data, which canthereafter be read by a computer system. Examples of computer readablemedia include read-only memory, random access memory, CD-ROM, DVD,magnetic tape, hard disk drive, solid state drive, and optical datastorage device. The computer readable medium can also be distributed ina network coupled computer system such that the computer readable codeis stored and executed in a distributed manner.

For example, the foregoing embodiments may take the form of hardwarecircuits. The hardware circuit can include any combination of combinedlogic circuits, clock storage devices (such as floppy disks, flip-flops,latches, etc.), finite state machines, memories such as static randomaccess memory or embedded dynamic random access memory, custom designcircuits, programmable logic arrays, etc.

When introducing elements of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean thatthere are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,”“including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean thatthere may be additional elements other than the listed elements.Additionally, it should be understood that references to “oneembodiment” or “an embodiment” of the present disclosure are notintended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additionalembodiments that also incorporate the recited features.

While some specific embodiments of the present disclosure have beenpresented in detail by way of example, it should be understood by theskilled in the art that the above examples are intend to be illustrativeonly, not limiting the scope of the present disclosure. The aboveeffects are merely illustrative effects, and the solutions of thepresent disclosure may have other technical effects as well. It shouldbe appreciated that some steps of the foregoing methods are notnecessarily performed in the order illustrated; instead they can beperformed simultaneously, in a different order, or in an overlappingmanner. Moreover, those skilled in the art can add some steps or omitsome steps as needed. Some units in foregoing apparatus are notnecessarily arranged as shown, and those skilled in the art may add someunits or omit some units as needed. Those skilled in the art willunderstand that the foregoing embodiments may be modified withoutdeparting from the scope and essential of the disclosure. The scope ofthe disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

1. A method for realizing dynamic scheduling for a cinema, the methodbeing performed by a first electronic apparatus, characterized in that,the method comprising the steps of: receiving user preferences of aplurality of users, wherein the user preference specifies at least amovie that a user desires to watch, a time for watching the movie, acinema location for watching the movie, and a number of people watchingthe movie; generating, based on the collected user preferences, arespective dynamic schedule for at least one cinema of a plurality ofcinemas according to one of a plurality of scheduling schemes; andtransmitting the generated respective dynamic schedule to at least onesecond electronic apparatus corresponding to the at least one cinema. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of scheduling schemesinclude at least: a first scheme based on a number of movie-goers,wherein generating the dynamic schedule according to the first schemecomprises: calculating a number of people who desire to watch a samemovie in a same cinema at a close time based on the collected userpreferences of the plurality of users, and in the case that thecalculated number of people is greater than a first threshold,confirming a schedule for the movie for the cinema at the time; and asecond scheme based on an amount of money, wherein generating thedynamic schedule according to the second scheme comprises: calculating aturnover of playing a same movie in a same cinema at a close time basedon the collected user preferences of the plurality of users and apricing of a specific movie in a specific cinema, and in the case thatthe calculated turnover is greater than a second threshold, confirming aschedule for the movie for the cinema at the time.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the close time represents the same time period, orrepresents a difference between the time points at which different usersdesire to watch the movie is less than a third threshold.
 4. The methodof claim 2, wherein the user preference further specifies a type ofconsumption, and the plurality of scheduling schemes further comprise athird scheme based on the type of consumption, wherein generating thedynamic schedule according to the third scheme comprises: in the casethat the type of consumption is block booking, confirming a schedule forthe movie for the cinema at the time, and in the case that the type ofconsumption is not block booking, generating the dynamic scheduleaccording to the first scheme or the second scheme.
 5. The method ofclaims 1, further comprising the step of confirming a schedule accordingto at least one of a time when the user provided the user preference, auser's identity, and a turnover of playing the movie.
 6. The methodclaim 1, wherein for a user preference of at least one user, in the casethat a schedule that satisfies the user preference is not confirmed,generating recommendation information and transmitting therecommendation information to the user, the recommendation informationincluding one or more of following information related to schedules thathave been confirmed: first alternative schedule information, wherein thecinema for the first alternative schedule is the same as the cinemaspecified in the user preference, the time for watching a movie for thefirst alternative schedule is close to the time specified in the userpreference, while the movie for the first alternate schedule isdifferent from the movie specified in the user preference; secondalternative schedule information, wherein the movie for the secondalternate schedule is the same as the movie specified in the userpreference, the time for watching the movie for the second alternateschedule is close to the time specified in the user preference, whilethe cinema for the second alternate schedule is different from thecinema specified in the user preference; third alternative scheduleinformation, wherein the movie and the cinema for the third alternateschedule are the same as the movie and cinema specified in the userpreference, while the time for watching the movie for the thirdalternate schedule is different from the time specified in the userpreference.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first electronicapparatus communicates with the second electronic apparatuscorresponding to each cinema, such that each second electronic apparatusregisters with the first electronic apparatus.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein transmitting the dynamic schedule comprises the steps of:transmitting, to the second electronic apparatus, a dynamic schedule fora specific time period of a cinema corresponding to the secondelectronic apparatus based on a request of the second electronicapparatus; or transmitting periodically the generated respective dynamicschedule to the at least one second electronic apparatus correspondingto the at least one cinema.
 9. The method of claim 8 further comprisingthe step of, wherein, in the case of transmitting the dynamic schedulebased on the request, authenticating the requesting second electronicapparatus based on registration information, and rejecting the requestif the authentication fails.
 10. The method of claim 1, furthercomprises the step of processing the dynamic schedule in accordance witha predetermined protocol before the dynamic schedule being transmitted,the processing enabling the second electronic apparatus to interpret thereceived data.
 11. An electronic apparatus for realizing dynamicscheduling for a cinema, the electronic apparatus comprising a memoryhaving computer executable instructions stored thereon and a processor,the computer executable instructions, when executed by the processor,causing the apparatus to perform the method of claims
 1. 12. A methodfor controlling playing a movie according to a dynamic schedule, themethod being performed by a second electronic apparatus, characterizedin that, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a dynamicschedule from a first electronic apparatus; and controlling playing themovie based on the dynamic schedule, wherein, the dynamic schedule isgenerated based on a plurality of user preferences according to one of aplurality of scheduling schemes, wherein the user preference specifiesat least a movie that the user desires to watch, a time for watching themovie, a cinema for watching the movie, and the number of peoplewatching the movie.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality ofscheduling schemes include at least: a first scheme based on a number ofmovie-goers, wherein generating the dynamic schedule according to thefirst scheme comprises: calculating a number of people who desire towatch a same movie in a same cinema at a close time based on thecollected user preferences of the plurality of users, and in the casethat the calculated number of people is greater than a first threshold,confirming a schedule for the movie for the cinema at the time; and asecond scheme based on an amount of money, wherein generating thedynamic schedule according to the second scheme comprises: calculating aturnover of playing a same movie in a same cinema at a close time basedon the collected user preferences of the plurality of users and apricing of a specific movie in a specific cinema, and in the case thatthe calculated turnover is greater than a second threshold, confirming aschedule for the movie for the cinema at the time.
 14. The method ofclaim 13, wherein the close time represents the same time period, orrepresents a difference between the time points at which different usersdesire to watch the movie is less than a threshold.
 15. The method ofclaim 13, wherein the user preference further specifies a type ofconsumption, and the plurality of scheduling schemes further comprises athird scheme based on the type of consumption, wherein generating thedynamic schedule according to the third scheme comprises: in the casethat the type of consumption is block booking, confirming a schedule forthe movie for the cinema at the time, and in the case that the type ofconsumption is not block booking, generating the dynamic scheduleaccording to the first scheme or the second scheme.
 16. The method ofclaim 12, wherein in the case that there is a scheduling conflict fordifferent movies at a same time in a same cinema, the dynamic scheduleis confirmed further according to any one or more of the following: atime when the user provided the user preference, a user's identity and aturnover of playing the movie.
 17. The method of claims 12, wherein themethod further comprises the step of registering, by the secondelectronic apparatus, with the first electronic apparatus.
 18. Themethod of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:authenticating to the first electronic apparatus; and requesting adynamic schedule.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the step ofreceiving the dynamic schedule from the first electronic apparatusincludes periodically receiving dynamic schedules from the firstelectronic apparatus.
 20. The method of claims 12, further comprises thestep of interpreting data transmitted from the first electronicapparatus in accordance with a predetermined protocol to receive thedynamic schedule.
 21. An electronic apparatus for controlling playing ofa movie according to a dynamic schedule, the electronic apparatuscomprising a memory having computer executable instructions storedthereon and a processor, the computer executable instructions, whenexecuted by the processor, causing the apparatus to perform the methodof claim
 12. 22. A computer readable medium having computer executableinstructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, causethe processor to perform the method of claim
 1. 23. A computer readablemedium having computer executable instructions stored thereon which,when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the methodof claim
 12. 24. A cinema system comprising an electronic apparatus ofclaim
 11. 25. A cinema system comprising an electronic apparatus ofclaim 21.